Hawaii Reaffirms Obama Legitimacy

For the second time (the first was in October 2008), Hawaii's Director of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, verifies that President Obama was, indeed, born in Hawaii, per The Honolulu Advertiser.

The Honolulu Advertiser story also offers details on how the state deals with vital records, including who is, or isn't, permitted to view the original versions of items such as birth certificates, and how the state's COLB formatting has changed over time (the COLB posted online by the Obama campaign reflects the most recent incarnation of the COLB).

It also deflates theories that the Obama birth announcements, which appeared in the Advertiser as well as the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, were "phoned in" from elsewhere: Janice Okubo, the spokesman for the Hawaii Health Department, confirms that such announcements "were not sent to the newspapers by the general public but by the Health Department, which received the information directly from hospitals," (HA). She adds that: "Birth announcements from the public ran elsewhere in both papers and usually included information such as the newborn's name, weight and time of birth" (HA).

So there you go.

Aside: Here is The Guardian's overview of the Birther movement.

Bill Posey (R-FLA) Eases Out of Birther Status

One month after introducing a bill--H.R.1503--that would require all presidential candidates to provide a copy of his or her birth certificate, U. S. Representative Bill Posey still lacks a co-sponsor for said bill.

Additionally, Representative Posey says that,

he has "no reason to question" that Obama — born in Hawaii to an African father and an 18-year-old American mother — is a U.S. citizen. (Orlando Sentinel)

Sorry Birthers.

Update: Representative Robert Goodlatte [R-VA6] has signed on as co-sponsor to H. R.1503. It only too a few months then.

Salon on the Birthers

Alex Kopelman at Salon reviews the latest "Birther" nonsense, a "citizen grand jury" that opted to "indict" President Obama over the past weekend. Kopelman's concise discussion also notes the creeping violence emerging from the "Birther" folks.

Biden's Birther Joke

At the 124th annual Gridion Dinner, Vice President Joe Biden poked fun at the conspiracy theories about President Obama's birth certificate, saying:

You know, I never realized just how much power Dick Cheney had until my first day on the job. I walked into my office, and you know how the outgoing president always leaves the incoming president a note in his desk? I opened my drawer and Dick Cheney had left me Barack Obama’s birth certificate. (Politico)

Looks like the administration is quaking, doesn't it?

Biden's Gridion address is pretty hysterical altogether, so you might want to take a moment to read the transcript here.

Lonely Posey

On 12 March, Representative Bill Posey (R-FLA) introduced a bill--H.R.1503--to require future presidential candidates "to produce copies of their birth certificates and other documentation to prove natural-born citizenship" (Politico).

Representative Posey asserts, through a spokesman, that he only initiated the bill in order to prevent future presidential candidates from being subjected to rumors about their citizenship status (CNN). However, he's a bit evasive when asked about his own thoughts on the President's citizenship, telling the Orlando Sentinel: “I haven’t looked at the evidence. It’s not up to me to look at the evidence … I can’t swear on a stack of Bibles whether he is or isn’t.” I expect you can't blame the man for dancing around a bit: you can't really appeal to conspiracy theorists without looking like one yourself.

On March 20th, after a week of backlash, Representative Posey posted his reasons for introducing the bill at his 'blog.

The irony: Posey's bill proposes that a candidate produce a copy of a birth certificate. President Obama's COLB is just that--a certified copy that, as the document states, "serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding."

Ah--and one week later, Representative Posey has yet to find any co-sponsors for his bill.

Update: One month after introducing his bill, Posey still lacks a co-sponsor. Additionally, he now says:

he has "no reason to question" that Obama — born in Hawaii to an African father and an 18-year-old American mother — is a U.S. citizen. (Orlando Sentinel)

Update Two: Two months later, Representative Robert Goodlatte [R-VA6] signed on as co-sponsor of Posey's bill. Anyone else?

Sorry Birthers.

Video: Taitz Questions Chief Justice Roberts

The folks at Politijab have located video of California dentist-cum-lawyer Orly Taitz asking Chief Justice John Roberts about her lawsuits over President Obama's citizenship. she prefaces her question with allegations about dirty dealings at the Supreme Court.

Taitz's questions to Chief Justice Roberts followed his delivery of the University of Idaho's Bellwood Lecture on 13 March; she opened the Q & A session.

You can access the entire video at the University of Idaho's College of Law website (scroll down the page until you encounter "The Bellwood lecture is now available [. . . .] Real Media Player is required"). Taitz appears some 53 minutes in. You can also view the "Birther"-relevant portion of the event, "Orly Taitz, DDS, Esq. Asks Chief Justice Roberts a 'Birther' Question," at Youtube.

Audio: Taitz Questions Chief Justice Roberts (Update: Video, Too!)

(Updated)
This little item was an "aside" in an earlier post, but it deserves its own little space.

California dentist and lawyer Orly Taitz, an active player in the "Obama eligibility" business, attended a lecture by Chief Justice John Roberts at the University of Idaho (Moscow) on Friday, 13 March.

Dr. Taitz took advantage of a post-lecture Q&A session to ask the Chief Justice about certain lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility for the presidency. Here's an article describing the event, and here's audio, of Dr. Taitz addressing the Chief Justice.

Draw your own conclusions about the Chief Justice's reaction to Dr. Taitz. The audience's reaction is fairly evident. The laughter can't have been too encouraging.

Update: You can access video of the event here (Taitz appears about 53 minutes in--H/T to Politijab for the video link!).

Next Up: Bilderberg!

Like your conspiracy theories but getting bored hearing about Obama's birth certificate? Take heart! Refreshed interest in the Bilderberg Group is accelerating! Yes indeed, folks are, once again, pointing suspicious fingers at this top-secret cabal--the elites who plot our global destiny.

And if you're not quite ready to surrender your Obama-related theories, you get to double your fun: Obama's cabinet is chock-full of Bilderbergers, and he just can't get enough! The President has recently nominated Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services--and she, too, is a Bilderberger! What must this mean? Is the President is in the Group's employ? It's all so peculiar....I'm sure there must be a way to tie everything together.

Aside: Speaking of "birth certificate" and "conspiracy," California dentist and lawyer Orly Taitz, a participant in one (maybe two--I lose track) of the "Obama eligibility" lawsuits, attended a lecture by Chief Justice John Roberts at the University of Idaho the other day. During the Q&A period, she asked the Chief Justice about her lawsuits on the President's eligibility. Here's an article about the event, and here's audio of Taitz's questioning. Enjoy.

About that Sarah Obama Tape. . . .

Claims that Sarah Obama, the President's step-grandmother, attended the President's birth--in Kenya--have been floating around for a while.

The allegations stem from a recorded telephone interview Ron McRae conducted, via a translator, with Sarah Obama. The interview has been made available on the internet, but it's been edited to conform to the "eligibility" conspiracy (see this example of an incomplete transcript that seems to confirm the citizenship rumors; in reality, whoever posted the piece failed to include Sarah Obama's clarifying remarks negating the rumors).

The good doctor at Obama Conspiracy has posted a link to an unedited version of the tape as well as a link to an independent transcript of the conversation. Dr. Conspiracy's current post supplements an earlier post on the same topic.

(Seriously--how many tapes, or rumors of tapes, is this now? There was "whitey," there was API, and now this. . . perhaps that's it. Or perhaps there are more--if not now, I'm sure there soon will be).

Ben Smith: Meet "the Birthers"

"The Birthers" are in the MSM, and they're not going to like it.

In "Culture of Conspiracy," Politico's Ben Smith takes on "the Birthers," a group of people who claim, in lawsuit after lawsuit, that President Obama is ineligible for his office because, they argue, he is not a "real" citizen. Smith summarizes their arguments and debunks a few rumors (for example, that the state of Hawaii won't confirm Obama's birth, that President Obama is paying millions of dollars to attorneys to block the various Birther lawsuits. Obama's attorney in one case, Fredric Woocher, is working pro bono, and says "[t]here is absolutely no truth to the stories about the untold millions supposedly being paid to us" [Smith]).

Smith also cites some fairly influential conservative folks on how this conspiracy movement is, well, cracked. Michael Medved, for instance, suggests that the Birther movement might simply be a conspiracy designed to undermine/discredit the conservative movement. This does make some sense (and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that some liberals are deliberately stoking the fire) because the conspiracy is so far-fetched and because the movement's spokespeople tend to speak in such outrageous terms (cf. Alan Keyes's recent declamation). The fact that courts continue to dismiss the Birther lawsuits, that the vast majority of legal scholars reject or mock the "evidence" presented by Birthers, suggests that the people driving the movement are motivated by an antipathy for Obama rather than anything else--especially patriotism. How do you otherwise explain their often-expressed wish for civil war or for the military to "do something"? (Yes to Democracy maintains and regularly updates a collection of "the Birthers'" seditious dreams). I've said it before, but I don't recall the most rabid of "Bush derangement" (or even "Clinton-derangement") sufferers plotting to overthrow the country.

Aside: Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, explains that "he hadn't 'seen any credible evidence Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen eligible for the presidency'" despite being contacted by "untold numbers of people" (Smith). Let's just say that Judicial Watch hardly qualifies as a liberal organization, and it seems likely that, should they have seen anything resembling "credible evidence," they'd have hopped onto this case months ago. Take away quote by Fitton:

"If people understood better what the law is, I don't think they'd be as concerned as they are."

Update: One of the lawsuits questioning President Obama's eligibility, just got shot down by D. C. District Court Judge James Robertson. Judge Robertson included some choice comments for the plaintiffs. You can read about it here, and the followup comments. . .well, they're a hoot. A little scary at times, but pretty revelatory of the "Birther" following.

Shelby Rejects COLB

The conspiracy theories over the COLB, that is.

In an interview with Politico, Alabama's senior senator responded to small flurry of notoriety following a report that he'd questioned the President's eligibility at a town-hall meeting. Yesterday, Shelby personally,

dismissed a report in the Cullman (Ala.) Times in which he was captured as indulging a constituent’s question about whether the president was born on American soil, a widely debunked rumor held over from the presidential campaign.

“Someone asked me that in a meeting and basically what I did is paraphrase, you know just quote for the crowd, what they said and I said that has been settled,” Shelby recounted today, calling his remark “distorted.”

Shelby added, “[I] never had any doubts” about President Obama's citizenship.

There you go.

Did Shelby Bite the COLB Fruit?

According to an Alabama newspaper, The Cullman Times, Richard Shelby, the state's senior U. S. Senator, has chosen to bite at the "Obama-is-ineligible" rumor. Apparently, he did so in quite a public way--in response to a question at a town-hall meeting:

[a] local resident asked Shelby if there was any truth to a rumor that appeared during the presidential campaign concerning Obama’s U.S. citizenship, or lack thereof.

“Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate,” Shelby said. “You have to be born in America to be president.”

According to the Associated Press, state officials in Hawaii checked health department records during the campaign and determined there was no doubt Obama was born in Hawaii.

The nonpartisan Web site Factcheck.org examined the original document and said it does have a raised seal and the usual evidence of a genuine document. In addition, Factcheck.org reproduced an announcement of Obama's birth, including his parents' address in Honolulu, that was published in the Honolulu Advertiser on Aug. 13, 1961. (CT)

When Politico's Ben Smith contacted Shelby's office to ask about the story, a spokesperson backtracked on the Senator's statements and claimed that the paper had "distorted" the Senator's remarks. The paper stands by its story and has requested that anyone with audio or video of the event get in touch. We'll have to wait until the paper finds and posts such evidence, but there's little doubt the paper's story has energized folks on both sides of the issue: the conspiracy theorists as well as those who see the GOP as focused on harming the president rather than fixing the nation.

This could get interesting. Unfortunately, it's also interfering with the nation's real problems--the economy, for example--by muddying the waters with rumor and innuendo.

Update: I'm thinking that Shelby didn't bite; his comment on the citizenship issue is starting to look like a mangled response to the constituent's question. Folks who attended the event offer differing recollections of the Senator's statements:

Dave Ozment, chairman of the Cullman County Republican Party, who attended the meeting, said he remembered some of Shelby’s comment on Obama’s citizenship.

“[Shelby] was not saying and I’m not saying he (Obama) is or isn’t [a U.S. citizen], he was just saying he hasn’t seen one (a birth certificate),” Ozment said.

Cullman Airport Manager Bob Burns, who was also at the meeting, recalled the question and answer as well.

“It sounded to me like he really didn’t want to go there,” Burns said about Shelby. “He said he hadn’t seen his birth certificate. He said something to the effect that it had been certified in Hawaii.” (Cullman Times)

Unless audio/video surfaces to dispute this, suffice it to say this story is over. It certainly doesn't warrant either jubilation amongst conspiracy theorists or ire amongst the anti-"birthers."

The Daily Show & the COLB

The folks at Indecision 2008 (The Daily Show/The Colbert Report) have taken notice of Dr. Orly Taitz, one of the more "outspoken" constituents of the "Obama-is-an-illegal-alien" movement. Go here for commentary and video of Taitz in action.

You can read more about the COLB (certificate of live birth) paranoia here, here, and here.

Back to Square One, eh?

So the Supreme Court declines to hear the current suit arguing that Barack Obama is not a "natural born citizen." Is there really any shock to this? The case is built on straws. and when no less a personage than David Horowitz chimes in to tell people obsessed with this concocted citizenship issue to back off (rather, to "shut up about the birth certificate"), you might consider the issue closed. We shall see.

Added: At The Next Right, Patrick Ruffini argues that "this kind of crap" will effectively derail legitimate critiques of the Obama administration. He's got a valid point: the story's received significant media coverage in the past few days, and, as more people become aware of it, the more likely that the public will imagine 1) it's a larger movement than it is, and 2) it's an issue within the mainstream Republican party (which it's not).